Thanks to solar energy, green plants have an enormous capacity to synthesize organic molecules; this process, called photosynthesis, is based on the presence of a pigment, chlorophyll. The term is derived from the Greek khloros (green) and phullon (leaf).
Photosynthesis is performed in two separate stages : the diurnal (or light) phase and the nocturnal (dark) phase.
- The leaf absorbs sunlight
- The chlorophyll uses the solar energy to create a reaction called photolysis of water: the oxygen and hydrogen molecules separate under the dual effect of light and chlorophyll.
- Sulphur dioxide, a mineral absorbed by the plant from soil water, is reduced by hydrogen from the photolysis of water. The reduced compound fixes itself to an acceptor, which is a 5-carbon sugar.
- Energy accumulated by the plant is used to carry out chemical syntheses according to a cycle discovered by Calvin.
- The most common compound is a 6-carbon sugar, fructose that unites with glucose to form sucrose. ** So whether the sucrose is extracted from sugar cane or sugar beet, the sucrose remains exactly the same.